In 1923, seven men who had made it to the top of the financial success pyramid met together at the Edgewater Hotel in Chicago. Collectively, they controlled more wealth than the entire Untied States Treasury, and for years the media had held them up as examples of success.
Who were they? Charles Schwab, president of the world's largest steel company; Arthur Cutten, the greatest wheat speculator of his day; Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange; Albert Fall, a member of the President's Cabinet; Jesse Livermore, the greatest bear on Wall Street; Leon Fraser, president of the International Bank of Settlement; and Ivan Kruegger, the head of the world's largest monopoly.
What happened to them? Schwab and Cutten both died broke; Whitney spent years of his life in Sing Sing penitentiary; Fall also spent years in prison, but was released so he could die at home; and the others- Livermore, Fraser, and Kruegger, committed suicide.
"Waking from the American Dream" by Donald McCullogh
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